Civil War???

No, we are not talking about the slow motion civil war going on in Iraq but one right here in the United States. There seems to be a growing belief that the administration of George W. Bush represents a threat to this country. Howard Fineman thinks that will result in a political civil war the likes of which we have not seen since Nixon.

We are entering a dark time in which the central argument advanced by each party is going to involve accusing the other party of committing what amounts to treason. Democrats will accuse the Bush administration of destroying the Constitution; Republicans will accuse the Dems of destroying our security.

As we can see from the very unscientific Newsweek poll there is apparently some belief the Bush should be impeached. Fineman points out that in spite of what Bush may say he did not swear to defend the American people but the constitution.

The president says that his highest duty is to protect the American people and our homeland. And it is true that, as commander-in-chief, he has sweeping powers to, as his oath says, “faithfully execute the office” of president. But the entity he swore to “preserve, protect and defend” isn’t the homeland per se — but the Constitution itself.

He further points out that the constitutional questions will spill over into the Alito confirmation hearings and could threaten his confirmation. And the driving force of this civil war will not be the Democrats but the Libertarian leaning Republicans.

Arguably the most interesting — and influential — Republicans in the Senate right now are the libertarians. They’re suspicious of the Patriot Act and, I am guessing, pivotal in any discussion of the NSA and others' spy efforts. Most are Westerners (Craig, Hagel, Murkowski) and the other is Sen. John Sununu. He is from New Hampshire, which, as anyone who has spent time there understands, is the Wild West of the East Coast. All you have to do is look at its license plate slogan: “Live Free or Die.” It’ll be interesting to see how other nominal small-government conservatives — Sen. George Allen of Virginia comes to mind — handle the issue.

So hang on to your hats, it's going to be a wild ride between now and the November midterms.